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How to Start Your Own Seedlings (Veg, Fruit, Flowers) and Save a Bundle

Starting your own plants from seeds is a great way to save money (quite a lot)
and have the exact varieties you want, as local nurseries and big box stores
often have a limited selection and few heirloom varieties of tomatoes,
peppers, eggplants, squash, cucumbers, melons and
other vegetables and flowers. So, you may think you have a black thumb and
can't succeed, but, if you follow the simple directions below, I can assure
you that you will have great results.

How much money can you save?

Ypou can save at least 90% of the cost. The math is simple. I'll use 100 plants as a figure, even
though you may only want a dozen,because the math is simpler.

Buying the plants

In August 2018, most stores (Home Depot, Lowe's
Wal-Mart, etc.) are selling Bonnies plants for $3.68 (plus tax) , if
the tax rate is 7 or 85, that means $4 per 3" or 4" peat pot.

Here's how to do it

Step 1 - Gather your supplies.

A tray to hold the cups to prevent them
from falling over. The empt plant trays at Home Depot or
Lowes work great. You could also use dish pans, or even
cardboard boxes from Costco.

Potting soil - the 50 Qt size bag of
Miracle Gro potting soil will fill 100 cups. Why buy the soil?
It is sterile, so there are no weed seeds in it. It is
light and designed to have the best denisty for starting seeds.
It has the nutrients the seeds need to get started. Is all
of that true of the soil in your back yard?

Seeds. Whatever you want to grow.
This method works with almost anything. I've used this to
raise hundrerds of tomatoes, eggplants, canteloupes,
watermelons, peppers, lettuce, kale, swiss chard, artichokes,
etc.

Tools: a scoop, hand trowel, etc. and a
sharp knife or sizzors and a sharpie pen or other permanent
marker.

A spray bottle filled with water

Step 2 - Label the cups.

You can be as OCD or casual as you like. I just abbreviate,
like C for canteloupes, BK for Black Krim tomatoes, etc.

Step 3 - Fill the cups

Fill each cup 2/3 full with the potting soil. Do not tamp it
down.

Step 4 - Add water

Add about 4 ounces of water to each cup. That will take
sometime to fully obsorb, so although it shouldn't be soupy, it may
have some free water. We add the water now to mpoisten it and it
avoids uncovering the seeds if we did this after planting the seeds
in the cups.

Step 5 - Add the seeds to each cup

Carefully place 3 seeds in each cup, spread apart (like at the
points of a triangle). Why 3 seeds? Not every seed germinates!
See the table farther down this page for typic al gernmination
rates, it varies from one plant to another, typically from 55% to
80%. SO, 3 seeds, pretty much ensures you will have at least
one sprout. You can plant 4 or 5 seeds per cup if you have
enough. And the converse is true, with larger seeds that have higher
germination rates, like canteloupes, you can put only 2 seeds in
each cup.

Step 6 - Cover with more potting soil

Add more potting soil to cover the seeds. Typically, we
cover seeds with enough soil to make 4 times the diameter of the
seeds, but more most seeds, simply covering them with 1/2 inch of
potting soil is fine.

Step 7 - Spray more water into the cups

I set the spray onto a wide spray patter, so it won't wash away
the seeds, then give each cup 10 squirts. This ensures that
the soil above the seeds is moist, too.

Step 8 - Put in a warm place, sunny or not

Most seeds have an optimal germination temperature. For
most vegetable seeds it is between 75 F and 85 F. SO, a sunny
location is fine, as long as you do not let the cups dry out. I
check them every morning and every evening and use the spray bottle
or gently pour in water with a cup, taking care not to uncover the
seeds.

How long to wait? Most seeds germinat (sproutP) within 7 to
10 days. Artichokes are a notable exception and can take 2 or 3
weeks!

Vegetable
or Fruit Seed

Germinationrates (%)

Days to Germinate

Asparagus

60

10

Bean, Lima

70

6

Bean, Snap

75

7

Beets

65

4

Broccoli

75

4

Brussels Sprouts

70

4

Cabbage

75

4

Carrot

55

6

Cauliflower

75

5

Celeriac

55

11

Celery

55

7

Chicory

65

6

Chinese Cabbage

75

4

Cucumber

80

3

Eggplant

60

6

Endive

70

6

Kale

75

4

Kohlrabi

75

4

Leek

60

7

Lettuce

80

3

Muskmelon

75

4

New Zealand Spinach

40

6

Okra

50

6

Onion

70

6

Parsley

60

13

Parsnip

60

14

Pea

80

6

Pepper

55

8

Pumpkin

75

4

Radish

75

4

Rutabaga

75

4

Salsify

75

6

Spinach

60

5

Squash

75

4

Sweetcorn

75

3

Swiss Chard

65

4

Tomato

75

6

Turnip

80

3

Watermelon

80

4

Step 9 - Punch a hole in the cup

With a sharp knife or one side of a pair of sizzors, I punch a
hole about 1/4 inch to 1/2 inch in each cup, NOT in the bottom, but
rather about 1/3 up from the bottom, on the side, as shown in the
photo. Why? This keeps the seeds from becoming waterlogged by
overwatering (or a heavy rain), yet retains enough water to allow it
to be asborbed by the entire container. I've been doing this
for many years and found this placement works best.

Step 10 - Watering, Sun and Thinning

Keep the the soil moist but not soggy. Don't let them dry out. If
you see mold or fungus growing on the plants or soil, you are
overwatering. Keep the plants in the sun. When they
reach about 3 inches tall, thin them by using your sizzors to
carefully cut off the stems of all but one or 2 plants per cup.
Then when they reach 4 or 5 inches tall, thin agin to 1 plant per
container. Always leave the strogest looking plants.

Planting out - Transplanting into the Garden

When the weather conditions in your garden are right and the
plants are sturdy enough (usually 5 inches tall or higher), you are
ready to plamnt them by simply gently sliding them out of the cups!
That's it!

References:

STARTING PLANTS FROM SEEDS, North Carolina Cooperative
Extension Service, NORTH CAROLINA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF
AGRICULTURE & LIFE SCIENCES, Erv Evans, Extension Associate,
Horticultural Science, Frank A. Blazich, Professor,
Horticultural Science, see Table 1. Germination information for
selected plants: approximate time to seed before last frost,
days forgermination, optimum temperature for germination,
and light requirements

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